"Higher tariffs for countries that play games" Trump warns

US President Donald Trump said he would retaliate by imposing higher tariffs on countries that try to exploit the Supreme Court’s ruling that the reciprocal tariffs were unlawful.

In a post on social media on the 23rd (local time), Trump wrote, "If any country tries to play games with the Supreme Court’s ridiculous decision—especially those that have been bleeding America for years, even decades—they will face tariffs higher than what they recently agreed to, and worse."

It was a warning that if a country seeks to renege on an agreement with the United States by citing the Supreme Court ruling as a pretext, he would retaliate with higher tariffs. Trump added the commercial caution, "BUYER BEWARE!!!"

In a subsequent post, Trump said, "As president, I do not need to go back to Congress to get tariff approval," stressing that imposing tariffs under the Trade Act and the Trade Expansion Act, among others, falls within his authority.

Citing the balance-of-payments deficit, Section 122—the basis for global tariffs allowing tariffs of up to 15% on countries for up to 150 days—along with the Trade Act provision allowing tariffs to be imposed after investigating a specific country’s trade practices (Section 301), and the Trade Expansion Act provision allowing tariffs to be imposed on specific items after assessing whether they pose a national security threat (Section 232), were enacted by the US Congress in 1974 and 1962, respectively.

Trump said, "That authority (to impose tariffs) was obtained long ago in various forms," adding that it was "reaffirmed by that ridiculous and poorly written Supreme Court ruling."

Washington=Lee Sang-eun, correspondent selee@hankyung.com